My novel is off to the printers today - Stephen Dearsley is leaving home.

I think it’s only normal for me to feel excited today because my novel is off to the printers ready for its release next week on 31 October. I’ve enjoyed each stage of writing my book, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love, but there is something special about the feeling today that it is all done and beyond any temptation to rewrite. It is also a strangely emotional moment, the final stage before poor Stephen leaves the safety of his author’s and publisher’s protection before facing his fate out there in the world. I hope people will be kind to him, poor guy. It feels like he’s leaving home.

I now have the exciting moment to look forward to when my novel is finally there in my hand – completed, printed and giving off that wonderful aroma unique to new books. I first dreamt of that moment as a child.

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STEPHEN DEARSLEY’S SUMMER OF LOVE BY COLIN BELL

My first novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love, is published on 31 October 2013. It is the story of a young fogey living in Brighton in 1967 who has a lot to learn when the flowering hippie counter culture changes him and the world around him.